Coffin v. U.S., 156 U.S. 432 (1895)
Commentary by Jon Roland
The decision and opinion in this case are both correct, so far as they go,
but are too narrow. That fact is that Congress had and has no authority to
impose criminal penalties for the act committed, and that section 5209 of
the Revised Statutes was and is unconstitutional. It would have such
authority only if the act occurred on territory ceded to the exclusive
jurisdiction of Congress by an act of the Indiana Legislature under Art. I
Sec. 8 Cl. 17 of the U.S. Constitution, and no such act was adopted by the
Indiana Legislature for the parcel of land on which the acts were alleged to
have occurred. Nor was or is there any authority for the government of the
United States to charter a bank to operate on other than federal enclaves
created under Art. I Sec. 8 Cl. 17 of the U.S. Constitution, and if a state
should allow it to operate on its territory, it would be governed by the
laws of that state and not by the laws of the United States.
Under the U.S. Constitution, there are only three kinds of criminal
jurisdiction: territorial, subject, and personal. The national Congress has
general territorial criminal jurisdiction only over the territory of federal
enclaves created under Art. I Sec. 8 Cl. 17. It has subject jurisdiction
only over (1) treason (Art. III Sec. 3 Cl. 2), (2) counterfeiting (Art. I
Sec. 8 Cl. 6), (3) piracy and felonies on the high seas (Art. I Sec. 8 Cl.
10), (4) offences against the laws of nations (Art. I Sec. 8 Cl. 10), (5)
enslavement (Amd. 13), (6) importation of alcohol into state where
prohibited (Amd. 21), and (7) denial of the right to vote on the basis of
race, color, or previous servitude (Amd. 15), sex (Amd. 19), failure to pay
a tax (Amd. 24), or age (Amd. 26). The only subjects of personal
jurisdiction are military personnel and militia personnel when in actual
federal service (Art. I Sec. 8 Cl. 16).
Since the alleged offenses did not occur on a federal enclave, the only way
the national government could have criminal jurisdiction would be if the
officials or employees of the national bank were military or militia
personnel in actual federal service, which they were not. A government does
not acquire criminal jurisdiction over the agents of a corporation by
chartering or regulating it.